Bludger to the Face
by Ruinus
Summary: Sometimes all it takes is a high speed ball of iron to knock some sense into you. Two-shot.
1. Bludger to the Face

**AN:** Just a very quick one shot that I thought up when I accidentally stubbed my toe today. It's just a short moment when Harry realizes he fancies Hermione, nothing too fancy or anything.

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**Bludger to the Face**

Harry groaned as he looked over at Ron and his ridiculous attempts to show off in front of Lavender.

"Ron!" he bellowed, finally losing his cool, "Pay attention mate! You've let six points in since this practice started!"

He saw Ron grumble something about taking practice games too seriously and Lavender give him a dirty look from her seat in the stands but frankly didn't care. He'd always wished for a normal year, just one year, where he wasn't involved in some plot that aimed to kill him and, as far as he knew, he'd gotten that. Malfoy was up to something, and there'd been some odd on goings this year, but all things considered it seemed as if he was finally getting a year to simply be a normal teenage boy.

Unfortunately he'd gotten the bad side of being a normal teenage boy.

First the thing with Ginny, which wouldn't be so bad in itself if only he had some sort of warning beforehand. "Listen Harry," the warning could have said, "This year you'll find yourself inexplicably drawn to Ginny, your best mate's little sister, and you'll feel uncomfortable whenever you see her with another boy despite the fact that you've never had any sort of romantic interest in her before this." Harry shook his head as he realized his gaze had been wandering over to Ginny's bum as she hovered around the field. _Hormones,_ he thought, _I'm sure it's all hormones._

He threw another glance at her bum.

Secondly this ridiculous _thing_ that was going on between Ron, Lavender and Hermione.

It wasn't so much Ron and Lavender, since Ron's behavior made some sense since it gave Ron a chance to be in the spotlight. Sure, Keeper wasn't as prestigious as Captain, but out of the two of them who had a girlfriend? Ron. Harry was happy for his mate, he hadn't seen him this confident and feeling good about himself since… well, maybe he'd never seen him this confident and happy. So good on him for getting a girl. And Lavender… well, he didn't know her well enough to figure if this was normal behavior for her but really, she seemed like a nice girl. All things considered Harry thought that their relationship was going at just about the pace he'd thought all teenage romances did; a lot of snogging and not a whole lot of talking. _I'd do that with Gin-_ Harry grit his teeth and looked over at Peakes, "Peakes! Try staying a bit further from Coote, cover more ground!" he yelled in an attempt to stop those ridiculous hormonal thoughts, though it did help that Peakes was flying to close to Coote to be useful as a Beater.

No, the problem was Hermione and Ron.

It was clear that Hermione fancied Ron, everyone seemed to know that since at least 4th year. Their constant bickering, he'd been told, was evidence of some sort of attraction between the two. This didn't seem to make much sense to him, considering every successful couple he'd laid eyes on didn't bicker in the same way Hermione and Ron did, but what did he know about relationships? Before this year he didn't even think about Ginny and now he couldn't keep his eyes off of her bum. Mister and Missus Weasley didn't bicker when they were at Hogwarts, he'd learned that from the few times he'd asked them about their younger days. Sirius, on the few times he'd asked him about his younger days, had always told him that bickering with a girl you fancy was a bad idea. Even his uncle and aunt didn't bicker with each other…

_Hormones,_ he figured. _It must all be hormones._

Still, Hermione never seemed like the type of girl to do what she was doing. Taking McLaggen to Slughorn's party to get Ron jealous, being petty and vindictive towards Lavender, who, from what Harry could tell, hadn't done anything to her. If he really stopped and thought about it, as he was doing right now since his team was doing quite fine on their own, it seemed as if Ron had fouled things up by starting a relationship with Lavender _after_ he had agreed to be Hermione's date to Slughorn's party. And Hermione was fouling things up by taking out her anger on Lavender, which only made Ron angrier.

Harry sighed and looked down at the stands, at Hermione.

The worst part was probably Hermione's behavior towards him. Over a book. It didn't make sense, not really. Why would Hermione, of all the people in the world, be upset that he was finally doing well in Potions? Shouldn't she be jumping for joy and congratulating him on finally raising his grade point average? Shouldn't she be just as interested in the book and all its wonderful Potions advice? Harry sighed in frustration, his best friend's behavior making about as much sense as History with Binns did. He thought he had the right handle on Hermione's personality after knowing her for so many years but it seemed he was wrong. She went from being a sweet, quiet bookworm to… Harry felt his stomach twist up as he realized she was acting almost like Lavender and Parvati did whenever they fancied a boy. _Maybe,_ he began to wonder, _she's just taking out all her frustrations over Ron and Lavender on me?_ He nodded to himself as he began to agree with his own opinion the more he thought on it. _It's not really the book she's angry about,_ he began to ponder, _After all, if she thought the book was dangerous she'd simply call McGonagall like she did in third year and have the book confiscated and checked for dark arts… and if she thought the book was cheating then surely she'd also report me to McGonagall. It's not like she goes easy on Ron and me for slacking off on our work or failing to study or practice. _ _She's angry at Ron for going off with Lavender and… and maybe she's mad at me for not being mad at Ron? _He wasn't sure where that stray thought came from, but it suddenly stuck in his mind. He had been there when Hermione had made her rather shy attempt to ask Ron to be her date to Slughorn's party and had also seen and heard Ron agree. So, from Hermione's point of view, he was also in the wrong for not sticking up for her, for not telling Ron "Hey mate what are you doing, you've already got a date planned with Hermione!" Harry frowned to himself, he _hadn't_ said anything to Ron even though he should have. Whenever Ron started one of his arguments with him Hermione always came to his defense so his lack of action must have hurt her.

Harry shuddered, realizing that he'd had a hand in all of this. He looked over at Hermione again, who was a bit busy eyeing Ron and throwing dirty glares at lavender whenever the girl cheered for her "Won-Won". That was one of his best friends down there and he'd hurt her, inadvertently maybe, but he'd still hurt her. _Well, I'll have to apologize to her and make it up to-_

He had to cut off his train of thought as he ducked, a Bludger flying past him just as he did so.

"Peakes!" he yelled, "I _told_ you to stay further from Coote! No, I can see that you are flying too close to him!" He threw Peakes a smile, telling the Beater that he wasn't really mad, he simply had to act the part of the team Captain with Peakes laughing in return.

_I guess this is a part of being normal,_ he though as he lazily watched his team execute a near perfect Rumplestiltskin Triple Pass, _Teenage romance. Remus and Sirius warned me about this,_ he thought, his heart feeling slightly lighter now that he thought of the few happy times he'd had with Sirius. _Said that sooner or later I'd act like a complete tosser over a witch, act like a fool._ His eyes slowly made their way over to Ginny, who was stretching in just the right way that arched her back and made her chest stand out.

_Right, hormones._ _Well, at least this is better than attempts on my li-_

"BLUDGER!"

_Of course._

Harry had become well acquainted with the Bludger. Beside the Snitch itself it was the Quidditch ball that he had most contact with and as such he had learned to take a Bludger to his face with as much grace as he possibly could. In reality taking a 67 kilogram ball of iron moving at somewhere around 12 meters per second to the face gracefully meant very little, it still hurt terribly and still broke his nose, smashed in the side of his face that it hit against, still busted his lip and knocked several teeth out and flung them across the field. The "taking it gracefully" part came in when he didn't immediately pass out, unlike other times he stayed awake as he felt his body go limp and get knocked straight off of his broom. The Bludger must have done a number on his head because the entire world seemed to be going in slow motion.

It felt like a long way down.

He got a good long look at everyone on the way down though it wasn't long before his eyes quickly darted over to Ginny. He smiled-or he assumed he smiled-he wasn't sure if he was actually able to form such an expression before his mind registered what he was seeing, he had hoped that watching Ginny in slow motion would be twice as wonderful as watching her normally. He had stolen glances of her before, wonderful eye opening glances, and had hoped that his current greatly accelerated mental state would allow him to enjoy watching her for a long, long time. She wasn't as wonderfully beautiful as he had suspected. She was quite pretty, that he couldn't deny, but suddenly getting a good long look at her he realized that he had somehow thought more of her. Of course it was all there, every reason to think of her as amazingly beautiful, nice legs, bum, chest, a cute face. And she loved Quidditch! And…

And…

Well he wasn't really sure about anything beyond that.

Looking back at it he couldn't think of any single conversation that stood out in his mind as particularly enjoyable, no conversation that he could recall that had made them connect over anything beyond Quidditch or the DA. He racked his brain, there must have been at least _one_ pleasant conversation right? He frowned as he realized that there wasn't. He'd spent all that time with her in the DA and he wasn't calling up any memories of any great jokes, any intimate conversations with her, any bonding over shared and common interests. He didn't really think about her in his last year now that he thought about it.

_Well, I was caught up over Cho that year…_ Harry mused before looking at her again. He looked at her hair which suddenly reminded him of Cho. A lot of her reminded him of Cho. Both were quite pretty girls who played Quidditch, both girls that he had started to fancy and…

_Well._

Now he realized that he had really nothing in common with Cho either. Well, at least if they _did_ have anything in common it was incredibly hard to figure that out over their complete lack of conversation. Harry suddenly wondered about that. He had fancied Cho, so during their one ill-fated date he could have attempted to make conversation with her couldn't he have? But he didn't. It was awkward and uncomfortable for him and for her. Of course she was still thinking about Cedric.

_Maybe me and Cho weren't right for each other?_

Harry began to think about the similarities between his current fancy for Ginny and his past fancy with Cho. He had thought he'd have every reason to "click" with Cho-he also wondered if Ron would take the mickey out of him for using such a girlish term-but they hadn't. He looked over at Ginny again and took all of this in. She was pretty, and she liked Quidditch and he didn't remember a single conversation that they'd had all year long.

Harry had been falling for one second, 4.9 meters had been covered by his fall.

Harry realized that he had a habit of this. There were plenty of pretty girls in the castle, if he was honest with himself several of them much prettier than Cho or Ginny could hope to be. Yet he hadn't ever really shown any interest in getting to know those girls either. He suddenly frowned, he was Harry Potter wasn't he? Yes, he hated all the titles people seemed to throw at him, all the fame, but he suddenly realized that it also came with benefits. He'd always been hounded by witches all his life. And he ignored all of them.

Harry frowned as he thought about this.

He'd ignored all of them, hadn't ever made any attempt to get to know them. Parvati suddenly came into his mind. She was quite pretty and from her time in the DA he know she was quite smart and friendly. And yet when she was his date to the Yule Ball he hadn't paid much attention to her. Or even afterwards. He scrunched his face in concentration-though anyone looking at him could swear he still had the "I-was-just-hit-with-a-Bludger" look-he could have gotten to know Parvati better after the Yule Ball, walked up to her and apologized for being a complete prat to her and ruining her night, asked if she wanted to give it another go and invited her to Hogsmaede.

_I could have asked Luna to be my date as "more than friends"._

He thought about that too. He had asked Luna to be his date to Slughorn's Party, she had said yes. Of course, she had said yes when he suggested it as being "as friends" but why didn't he simply ask her as a real date? She was pretty. Harry nodded to himself, she was quite pretty. She had wonderful eyes, she had long flowing blonde hair, her hands were nice to hold. She was a little on the petite side, but Harry saw nothing wrong with that. Really, if he got down to it, her slightly odd personality gave her a bit of a charm that he couldn't really see in any of the other girls. Really, she was one of the few interesting girls in all of Hogwarts. She had never fallen for that "Boy-Who-Lived" tripe that was constantly spouted amongst everyone else in the wizarding world, she'd always seen him as just Harry. She'd even given him some wonderful words after Sirius' death.

She was much certainly much more memorable than his past two crushes-Harry suddenly realized that he thought of Ginny as a past crush-Ginny and Cho were both Quidditch players, pretty Quidditch players. Two pretty Quidditch players who he couldn't remember a single conversation with.

Luna, on the other hand…

But, he hadn't felt anything like that for Luna either. Even now, when he realized that he probably should have felt something more than friendly feelings for her, he realized that he couldn't. Once again he realized that it was all there, she was smart and funny and cute in a quirky way and had helped him through a hard time in his life… but still something didn't' click in the right way that made him crazy for her.

Harry began to fret, he tried to go through every single witch he'd ever known as he tried to find one that he had actually felt something with.

His eyes flicked over to the Snitch, it had flown right by his face, so much that he could see his own reflection on its polished gold exterior. He was a natural born Seeker and tracked it with his eyes even though he knew he could do nothing to actually catch it. He tracked it as it flew around, did a lazy loop, circled his head three times before leading him to Hermione.

Harry had been falling for 2 seconds, he'd fallen 19.6 meters.

He wasn't sure what had hit him harder, the Bludger or Hermione's image. He quickly assessed the pain he was currently feeling and tried to recall the impact from so long ago…

Hermione had definitely hit him like a freight train.

He'd somehow never actually looked at her.

_Not true,_ he stopped himself. He _had_ looked at her, he'd looked at her at the Yule Ball when she walked down the stairs in her dress, her hair done up, her lips shining and smiling, her entire face beaming with happiness. He remembered simply staring at her, staring and having his mouth open as he was struck with how wonderful she looked. And right now she looked just as wonderful. She was yelling something, though he looked like she was mouthing something to him, he saw how wonderfully her lips moved when she spoke. He wasn't sure how he could tell that her lips were pink, they were quite a ways away from each other, but he was sure they were. Either from the cold-he realized she looked wonderful whenever she was cold as her nose and cheeks would start to turn pink- or because she'd been biting them while reading a book or studying or worrying about the idiotic stunts he had been doing earlier in the practice session to try to impress Ginny.

He didn't need to think about their friendship. His friendship with her was something he could almost feel somewhere deep in his gut. She'd always be there for him and he'd always be there for her.

And that was really all that he needed. A smack to the face and he started feeling a funny sensation in his gut that was not at all related to his fall towards the Earth as he looked at Hermione.

He wondered if he should.

He began planning how he'd proceed with this newfound revelation. He'd be seeing her in no time at all he realized. After all, he was quite sure he was about to pass out from the impact with the ground, he'd be unconscious for a while, then he'd wake up in the Hospital Wing and, he'd bet his entire fortune in this next part, that she'd be sitting right next to his cot and worrying herself sick over him.

And then what would he do?

_She still fancies Ron_… Harry's thoughts suddenly reminded him. If he made a move on Hermione his best mate would certainly-

_Hold on, but Ron is dating Lavender._

Ron was dating Lavender.

Harry beamed, his smile unknowingly ruined by the loss of a few teeth and a busted lip and streaks of blood that fell around him. Ron had absolutely no say in this entire thing, he had a girlfriend and he had, for all intents and purposes, rejected Hermione by starting his current relationship. So Ron was out of the picture, at least as far as he was concerned, but Hermione fancied him…

Harry felt a confidence with witches that he'd never felt in his life. He wasn't sure if the Bludger had knocked this confidence into him or if it had just knocked some brains around in his head and made him realize some self confidence that he had buried deep within himself, but the effect was the same. He smiled as he looked at Hermione.

He'd make her forget all about Ron.

As finally hit the ground at 3 seconds, he had fallen 44.12 meters and fallen hard for his best friend.


	2. Another Bludger to the Face

**AN: **Alright, I'm adding a second chapter to this because a few of you asked for it. So here it is. Thanks for all the reviews and follows. Also, I was thinking of starting up a collection of one-shots set in the _Hermione Granger is Stupid_ storyline, all from different character's POVs, would anyone be interested in that?

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**Another Bludger to the Face**

Hermione looked over at Harry with surprise, her spoon halfway to her mouth before her mind kicked in and resumed control of her body.

"I'm sorry Harry, what was that again?"

She stared at Harry Potter, her best friend and seemingly new romantic pursuer, knowing full well what he had asked and only attempting to buy time to think up the appropriate response.

"I was just asking if you'd do me the honor of being my date for tomorrow's Hogsmeade trip?" Harry asked with no amount of embarrassment or shame, the entire Gryffindor table going quiet as Hermione looked around, hoping someone would come to her rescue. She found nothing but an angry glare from Ginny and Ron, the young redhead angry because it was her longtime crush that was swooning over Hermione, and Ron angry because Harry was making a move on "his" girl. Lavender, who was at Ron's side, was nodding excitedly, mouthing "Say yes!" while Parvati, next to her, was biting her lip in excitement. The rest of the Gryffindor table was whispering excitedly to each other, they'd all been having a huge kick out of the entire situation.

A situation that had started right after Harry had taken a particularly nasty Bludger injury followed by a brutal fall. Hermione, as was her usual habit, had run into the Hospital Wing alongside Harry, nervously fretting over him and pestering Madame Pomfrey if he would be fine, how long would he be in the Hospital Wing, how many days of classes would he be missing due to this injury and so on. She sat by him and made him comfortable while he lay unconscious in "his" hospital cot, fluffed up his pillow and made sure his blankets were warm with a few charms, closing the nearby curtains when the sun began to fall upon his face, wondering all the while why he seemed to love such a fantastically dangerous sport. _Why didn't wizards play sports on the ground?_

And then he'd woken up. And that was when she knew something was tremendously wrong.

Hermione knew her best friend better than anyone; she'd even venture to say that she knew him better than Ron did. She was _the _definitive Harry Potter expert, she could write a book about him if only for the fact that she was sure that would absolutely kill him due to embarrassment. All the years of friendship and closeness and adventures had given her the unique ability to read him like an open book, she knew how to tell what he was feeling just by looking at him, she could see his simple gestures and body language and read entire volumes, she sometimes felt as if she could talk to him without needing her voice, as if she could communicate with him through the subtlest of body gestures, or by simply looking into his eyes. Because of this she knew the look he gave girls when he fancied them, Cho in their last year and Ginny in this year.

And because of that she knew something was off when she found herself on the receiving end of one of those looks.

She'd written it off as a daze, some half-awake hallucination where he was mistaking her for Ginny and that he'd soon snap out of it. When he didn't he turned to Madame Pomfrey who went on to say that perhaps the Bludger had caused some temporary confusion, though she admitted that her knowledge of brain injuries and their relation to the mental faculties were a bit beyond her. When the wistful, admiring looks, touches-that-lingered-longer-than-necessary and generally amorous behavior continued for the rest of the day, she became worried and pestered Madame Pomfrey again who guessed that perhaps the Bludger had done some damage, that perhaps this was a temporary condition that would pass in a day or so.

Harry had said that nothing was wrong, that he'd never felt better in his life… all while cupping her cheek and staring tenderly into her eyes as she gaped in shock.

That had been nearly a week ago. She'd spent every day since then acutely aware that Harry was floating around her like a love sick puppy, dreading that his flirtatious behavior-and the fact that she wasn't outright rejecting his advances because she feared his condition would worsen-would end up in disaster.

And here she was, sitting as the entire Gryffindor table openly stared at her as she attempted to find a way out of Harry's request without worsening his condition.

She considered her options. If she said yes Harry's condition could worsen. He might fall deeper into this illusion his brain injury had caused, he might persist in his silly notion that he fancied her. If she said no, well, couldn't that _also_ worsen his condition? Perhaps he'd react badly to her rejection and, in further attempts to win her over, prolong this entire madness?

"Just say yes!" she heard someone yell from the Ravenclaw table. She now noticed that most of the Great Hall had quieted down to eavesdrop on her situation.

She turned back to Harry, who was still eagerly awaiting her answer. She started to feel nervous as she considered what course of action would be best for the mental health of her friend, started to feel nervous with so many eyes trained up on.

"Yes."

_I meant to say no!_

Hermione couldn't take back her answer, Harry was beaming in joy as he reached over and held her hand before bringing it up to his lips and planting a few butterfly kisses on it.

"Thank you Hermione," he smiled, "I promise it'll be a date to remember."

Hermione looked at her hand, still in Harry's own hands, she looked over at a furious Ginny who was sending her a death glare, she looked over at Ron who was turning red and fuming, she looked at Lavender and Parvati who were biting their lips in an effort to refrain from squealing in joy, the Great Hall that had erupted in whispers and rumors and gossip and betting on their relationship. Then she looked back at Harry, a misguided sense of love in his eyes.

"Yes," she said as she realized the depth of her problems. "I don't doubt it."

She passed the rest of the day in a haze, barely paying attention to her classes as she wondered how her life had become this complicated. The boy she was pining after was too busy inspecting a hussy's tonsils with his tongue-repeatedly- to notice her. Her closest female friend was too busy glaring at her for "stealing" her crush to help her out of her predicament and said crush, who also happened to be her best friend in the world, was only after her because he had taken a rather nasty Bludger injury that had surely knocked some screws loose. She missed the days when the only problems in her life were how to avoid her temporal future self and running an illegal combat defense club right inside the most watched magical school in Britain.

She numbly thanked Harry for carrying her books for her before giving the excuse that she had had an emotional day, which really was true, and needed some rest, she then turned down his offer to help her relax with a back message and squeaked out that she wanted to rest on her bed for a while before running up the stairs to her dorm room, Harry calling out that he'd be around if she decided she wanted some company. She rushed into her dorm room and sighed, glad that she'd have some time alone for once.

"Girl," she heard a familiar voice call out, a voice she did not want to deal with at the moment. "You _have_ to tell us everything!"

Hermione reluctantly looked over at Lavender and Parvati, who were both biting their lips in excitement as they patted an empty spot on the plush pink rug that Lavender had brought in from her home last year. Her shoulders slumped as she made her way to her bed, dropping her books and notes on the small table she had set up by her bed.

"Look you two," she said in a tired, drained voice, "I would rather just rest today and-"

"Oh!" Parvati said, "Yes, yes, of course! Come on Lav, she's got to rest up for her big day tomorrow."

"Smart thinking Hermione," Lavender chimed in, Hermione's mood steadily declining as she heard the hussy talk, "Tomorrow you've got a date with Harry Potter! You'll want to look your best and feel your best too." Hermione saw her and Parvati nodding to each other out of the corner of her eye, "Oh! This'll be fantastic," she went on, "Maybe we can double date? Now we can be friends since we'll be dating two blokes who are best friends with each other."

Hermione turned to give Lavender a confused look, why on Earth would she double date with her and Ron? Ignoring the fact that she was not dating Harry, she hoped he wouldn't be too embarrassed when this was all over, there would be a greater chance of Luna's fantastical creatures being real then going on a double date with her and Ron-the boy she holding a torch for and the girl who stole him away. A thought suddenly popped in her head as she saw Lavender and Parvati discuss such a possibility, she didn't detect any malice or smugness or superiority in her voice, something she wouldn't have expected from a girl who had stolen her crush.

_Does Lavender know I fancy Ron? _Hermione's mind paused as she suddenly wondered if Lavender was completely oblivious her feelings for Ron and-

"Wait, what was that?" she asked, barely catching something Parvati had said.

"I was just telling Lav that that's silly." Parvati answered. "There's no possible way your date could be ruined tomorrow, so it's a done deal."

Hermione turned to Lavender, a confused look on her face before the buxom girl began to elaborate.

"Well, I was just worried that there could be a small chance, a really, really, really small chance that maybe, you know just maybe-"

"Yes?" Hermione prompted through gritted teeth, Lavender mistaking her annoyance for fear.

"Well," she fidgeted nervously, Hermione fighting to roll her eyes at the way Lavender was making this more dramatic than it required, "There could be a small chance that you ruin your date tomorrow."

"And I think that's silly," Parvati chimed in again, the vague beginnings of an idea forming in Hermione's head. "Hermione been like this with Harry ever since he rescued her from the troll remember?" she gestured by crossing her fingers, "If any girl doesn't have to worry about mucking up a date with Harry Potter it's her." She turned and gave the bookworm a fond smile, "You know Hermione, I used to not like you."

"What?" Hermione looked up at the girl, who didn't look the least bit embarrassed to have admitted such a thing.

"Well, I always had the feeling that you were the reason Harry didn't' dance with me at the Yule Ball," she shrugged, "But Harry's attitude lately, it made me realize that I just wasn't it for him, you are. So no hard feelings alright?"

Hermione nodded dumbly before her mind went back to its previous task. Despite her brief conversation with Lavender and Parvati being completely idiotic and doing nothing to ease the terrible headache she'd been having since she agreed to Harry's request, she had managed to salvage something useful from it.

She could _purposefully_ ruin tomorrow's date.

She sat up in her bed before reaching for her wand and levitating her trunk onto her bed before looking over at the two girls, who were still chatting. "If you don't mind," she said to get their attention, "I… must plan out my outfit for tomorrow."

The two girls happily nodded, silently throwing her thumbs up and wishing her luck as she closed the curtains around her bed before casting privacy charms around herself. She opened up her trunk and started pulling clothing out of its magically expanded space.

_Yes,_ she mused happily, _I'll be the worst sort of date tomorrow, Harry will see that I'm not the girl he fancies, thereby curing him, and life can go back to normal. Of course perhaps things will be a bit awkward for him afterwards, but I'll simply remind him that it was not his fault. _She smiled as she thought of her green eyed best friend, despite the fact that his behavior had been a rather unpleasant side effect of his injury, she still appreciated him and worried over him. She felt happier than she had in a few days as she grew into her plan, content in the knowledge that she'd be helping her best friend get back on his feet, mentally speaking.

She looked down at the clothing she'd selected for her task tomorrow, noting somewhat sadly that none of her clothing was too eye catching or attractive and wondered if a small change in wardrobe would catch Ron's eye. A few more minutes of planning and she laid down on her bed, wondering if she'll try such an experiment after she'd fixed Harry. After all, if her plan worked-and she didn't doubt it would-and she could make one wizard stop fancying her, then the opposite must be true? A change in wardrobe in the opposite direction would make a wizard start to fancy her again.

She smiled before falling asleep. She now had a plan to cure Harry _and_ win Ron back. Sometimes she impressed herself with her own genius.

The next day her genius was being put to the test as she waited for Harry to come down from the boy's dormitory. She had chosen a rather large jacket that did no wonders for her figure after she had realized that Harry had recently been throwing appreciative glances in her direction. She suppressed a smile as she thought about the first time she'd caught him doing so, since he had the decency to look properly contrite when he'd been caught, even with a serious mental injury Harry would always be Harry. The jacket would serve nicely in that regard, since it was large enough to hide her chest and long enough that it covered her bum too. Since it was quite oversized the sleeves rolled down her arms and covered her hands, which she had further guarded with a double layer of gloves. She smiled smugly as she looked down at her hands and realized that she could barely move her fingers. Harry would be out of luck if he tried to hold her hand. She'd put on a knitted cap and her Gryffindor colored scarf around her neck in an attempt to hide as much of her face as possible in an attempt to give Harry nothing to compliment her on. Her pants were also rather baggy, hiding her legs-another body part she had caught Harry admiring recently-well enough. All in all, she had made sure that no matter where Harry looked he wouldn't be able to see anything.

She hadn't combed her hair, it was the usual untamable mess under her cap as it was when she first woke up, several of them sticking out from underneath her cap, nor did she attempt to put on any sort of makeup. She had not prepared herself in any single way, she looked like a girl who had just woken up on a bad day.

She also hadn't showered or brushed her teeth.

This, she admitted, was a bit in the extreme, but she felt it was necessary. By no means did she stink, it was perhaps not even noticeable unless Harry deliberately smelled her head or breath in the closest manner possible-something she was not planning on letting him do-but she hoped it would add the extra "oomph" to her plan to dissuade Harry from his mentally confused crush on her.

She heard someone coming down the stairs, her eyes meeting Ron's angry glare, the accusing look he was giving her making her squirm where she stood.

"This," she said in a deceptively calm voice, "is for Harry. You know that Bludger-"

"I don't want to hear it." Ron snapped, "Go ahead and cozy up to him, maybe you'll snog him like you did Viktor? Do you just go and snog any bloke on the first date?" he sneered as he stormed past her, no doubt on his way to meet up with Lavender for their own date. Hermione glared after him before turning to see Harry walking down the same stairs Ron had just come down from, though instead of a glare on his face he had the most ridiculous grin on his face.

"Hello Hermione," he said in a voice she didn't know he could do. "You look wonderful."

She scoffed as she wondered if the Bludger had also somehow affected his eyesight before taking in his appearance, noting that he had put quite a bit of effort into their supposed date and even going so far as to attempt to comb his hair. As he drew closer to her she caught the scene of cologne that smelled rather nice coming off of him, she also noted that he had shaved the small bits of facial hair that he had started growing recently. Speaking objectively as a witch she had to saw that he looked quite handsome. She opened her mouth to compliment him in return before remembering what she was here to do. "Thanks," she said simply, her mind attempting to mimic the behavior of some of the ruder female students she'd seen around Hogwarts. "Let's go."

They both made their way down to carriages that were taking the students to Hogsmeade village, though she made sure to walk ahead of Harry the entire time, no mean feat considering that he had longer strides than her and was used to physical exertion. As she reached the area where students were already taking carriages down the small village below Hogwarts she stopped, slightly panting from her half-run half-walk down so many flights of stairs as Harry caught up to her.

"Are you alright?" he asked, real concern evident on his voice, "Are you sick, is that why you are so wrapped up? Maybe we should cancel, I don't want you to get even more sick…"

Hermione's eyes lit up at the opportunity to cancel this entire thing before she realized what a bad idea that would be, if she canceled now all that would happen is that Harry would move the date to another time when she wasn't "sick", she'd only be prolonging her own suffering.

"No thank you," she said, hoping to make her voice sound as sick as possible, "Let's get this out of the way." She added as she hoped into one of the carriages, Harry looking crestfallen that he couldn't help her up to her seat.

"Hermione," Harry said as she sat down next to her, the Gryffindor bookworm inching away as he did so. "Is there anyone in particular you would like to go? I was thinking that we could eat lunch at Three Broomsticks and walk around take in the sights. But really," he looked down at her hand which was quite close to hers, "I've enjoy anything as long as I am with you."

Hermione turned away from her best friend, hiding her blush and smile in the collar of her jacket, admitting for a moment that Harry could be quite endearing-injury or no-and that the situation was at least somewhat amusing.

_Yes,_ she mused, _I should keep in mind that one day Harry and I will have a good laugh about this…_

Her thoughts were interrupted when she felt something brush up against her fingers. Turning she saw Harry surreptitiously moving to hold her hand, something she denied him when she simply folded her hands into her lap, inwardly feeling terrible when she saw the dejected look that crossed his face for a brief moment.

"Wherever is fine, I don't care." Hermione replied as coolly as she could, a small pang of guilt at the look on Harry's face. The rest of trip passed in relative silence as Hermione had to continuously shoot down Harry's flirtatious advances and cut down any conversation that began. The carriage ride down to the small village felt unbearably long for Hermione who only now noticed how small the carriages were, though this may have been because of present circumstances. She practically flew out of the carriage when it arrived, Harry once against looking upset that he had missed a chance to hold her hand as he helped her down from the carriage.

The rest of the so-called date went quite well from Hermione's point of view, which meant it went terribly from Harry's point of view. Hermione stuck to her guns and continued to act distant towards her best friend, continued to maintain a respectable distance from him in an effort to close off any chance of an "innocent" brushing of hands, showed no interested in any of the conversations he thought to bring up. The only source of entertainment that Hermione could derive from the entire dreary affair was Harry's characteristic determination to woo her. Of course he'd feel upset when none of his advances were reciprocated but Hermione had to almost roll her eyes when he simply trotted out some other terribly genuine flirtatious compliment, though as time dragged on he seemed to be slowly getting the idea that Hermione wasn't interested in him.

It had been nearly three hours into their date when they bumped into one of their friends.

"Oy, Harry," they both turned to see Seamus walk up to the two, a grin on his face. "Hey, you two doing anything? A couple of us got to talk to some of the kids in Hogsmeade and we've got a game going on, us against them. Harry you in?" he asked while playing with an old Beater's bat in his hands. "Sure got them beat, but it wouldn't hurt to bring out the big guns y'know?"

_That explains why there aren't many students around, _Hermione thought with a glance around, the usually busy streets filled with only small groups of students here or there, though now that her attention had been called to it she did see a few figures flying around in the direction of the small park near the residential area of Hogsmeade. Hermione was about to reply that it would be fine if Harry went off and ended their date when he beat her to the punch.

"No thanks," Harry replied instantly, "I'm on a date right now."

"Yeah?" Seamus asked before a light went off in his eyes, "Oh yeah?" he asked again with a newly sparked enthusiasm as he looked between the two. "Nice!" he then gave Harry a pat on the shoulder and gave Hermione a congratulatory smile. "Good work you two."

"Thanks Seamus, see you later." Harry called back as the Gryffindor went off and tried to wrangle more students into the improntu Quidditch game.

"You know..." Hermione began as they continued to walk aimlessly around the small town, "You could go if you want. I won't mind."

"Will you go with me?" Harry asked, "And cheer me on?"

Hermione scoffed, remembering that she'd been to every single one of his games since he started the sport. "No," she lied, "we can end the date here, I'll go to one of the local bookstores and then back to the castle."

"I see…" Harry said as he looked away for a moment. "I'd rather stay here then."

"Are you sure?" Hermione asked, completely aware that he meant it, touched and annoyed at the same time.

"Of course," he replied easily and genuinely, "I-well it's no secret that I fancy you Hermione. Quidditch seems so…" he paused as she searched for the words before simply shrugging, "You are better than Quidditch."

"Oh," Hermione said dumbly as they continued to walk around in an effort to waste time. She scrunched up her shoulders, her jacket's collar and her scarf rising up to hide her face and blush as she once again appreciated how endearing Harry could be sometimes. She idly wondered why he hadn't had the best of luck with the witches around Hogwarts, the ones that mattered that is. Luna was certainly not swayed by his fame and the two had gone to Slughorn's party together, why hadn't anything developed there? There were a few other witches that came to mind that she thought would be fine matches for her green eyed friend, maybe she'd help him focus his newfound confidence on one of them when this was all over? It would be the least she could do.

_It wouldn't be hard either,_ Hermione thought as she glanced at Harry who, as usual, was blatantly staring at her and didn't seem at all embarrassed by being caught. _If it wasn't so out of character for him I would actually be flattered._ She hid her smile as he once again attempted to brush his fingers against hers. _I wish Ron was like this,_ she mentally sighed, still frustrated that her other best friend and object of her affections was still acting like a complete berk. _Maybe Harry is being a bit too blunt with his misguided feelings, but that is infinitely preferable to showing anger by dating another witch._

Her blood began to boil as she realized that Ron was probably at the Quidditch game, showing off his new Keeper position, with Lavender hanging off of his arm and-

"I'm sorry, what did you say?" Hermione asked, realizing that Harry had been attempting to get her attention. Harry inclined his head over to the Three Broomsticks.

"Would you like to get something to eat?" he asked.

"No," she lied, keenly aware that she had missed breakfast.

"Oh." Harry said, nodding and trying to hide a frown. "You're thinking about Ron aren't you?"

"Why would you say that?" she asked, wondering what had given her away. "I wasn't thinking about him at all." She added quickly.

"You don't have to lie," Harry responded easily, though Hermione could clearly see a frown threatening to form on his features. "I can tell you know? It was obvious that you two fancied each other before, and now that he's with Lavender," Hermione flinched, "it's even more obvious when you think about him. Your eyebrows scrunch up and you get this sad and angry look on your face. You also get a small frown, it… well you don't look as good as you usually do."

Hermione crossed her arms and gave Harry a dirty look before she gave him a small apologetic smile. "You could always read me." She said, "Yes, I'm thinking about Ron."

Harry nodded. "You aren't enjoying yourself are you?"

Hermione shifted her stance, she didn't want to seem standoffish. "No Harry, I am not, this date is-"

"I'm _not_ confused because of some silly Bludger injury." Harry cut her off, "Ok, look," he said after some hesitation, "Ok maybe the Bludger had something to do with this," Hermione shot him a smug look, "but it didn't make me fancy you because I'm confused or, or whatever you think it's done."

"Then what did it do?" Hermione challenged, "Because you fancying me, flirting with me, asking me on a date, when you _know_ I fancy Ron isn't my idea of your typical behavior." She then added in a kinder voice, "And you fancy Ginny, I know you do because I can read you too."

Harry shook his head, an exasperated sigh escaping him. "I did but that was _before_-"

"Before your injury?" Hermione asked, as she realized that this might be a vital moment. After this terrible date she might be able to finally talk some sense into Harry.

"Yes." Harry said.

"See!" Hermione exclaimed, happy that Harry seemed to be on the right track, "Tell me that sounds completely normal to fancy a girl, get hit on the head and wake up fancying another girl. You can't."

"Well no," Harry conceded, "But then neither does suddenly fancying your best friend's little sister!" He looked around as he realized he had yelled the last part before continuing the conversation. "So what do you say about that?"

Hermione laughed as she saw a few of the wandering residents give Harry second glances after his outburst. "Well, Ginny is rather pretty so it makes sense that you've become attracted to her." She did momentarily pause as she realized that Harry's infatuation with the younger redhead seemed to come out of nowhere, but wrote it off as a teenage boy's hormones. Her mother had warned her about those several times. "And you've spent so much time with her, so you-"

"And I've spent much more time with you. And you are much cuter than Ginny could ever be." Harry proclaimed, emphasizing his point by lightly tapping her nose. "This will sound odd," he said in a breathy whisper, "but I just realized how cute your nose is. I want to kiss it."

"It does sound odd," Hermione squeaked as she carefully leaned away from Harry, feeling a bit flushed at his words, "Why would you want to do that?"

"Because," Harry said as he stared intently at her, "All that Bludger did was knock some sense into me, not knock some sense out. It made me realize that you are smarter and braver and more loyal and fun and wonderful than any other girl." He looked downwards, Hermione feeling herself grow warm under his gaze as he realized he was looking at her lips, "Hermione I-"

"Bludger!"

Hermione suddenly felt herself grabbed by Harry and whipped around, Harry attempting to cover her with his body, she didn't have time to ask what he was doing when his head was suddenly rocked forward in a terrible jerk, his face colliding with her own, her face being smashed against his own, her forehead feeling a powerful thud as it slammed with Harry's, his glasses shattering once again as it was pressed between their faces.

Their lips smashing into each other's.

Her lips, and perhaps Harry's, had been cut open by the impact and by their teeth inadvertently biting into them, though the sensation that Hermione began to feel was not at all related to that injury, nor to the miniscule amounts of blood that had barely began to flow. She supposed she should have felt disgust when she had inadvertently "kissed" Harry, a boy she saw as a close friend and brother, a boy she decidedly did _not_ fancy, even if their kiss was more of an uncoordinated and unexpected injury than a proper kiss, but she felt none of that. Coming foremost to her mind, overcoming both the terror and confusion she was feeling when Harry suddenly shielded her with his own body was the sensation that Harry's lips were amazingly soft as they first began to collide with her own.

A fraction of a second later they both collided against the nearby wall of the Three Broomstick, the back of Hermione's head hitting the hard stone wall before Harry's body was pressed against hers by the force of the Bludger's impact. Hermione felt none of that. All she felt was Harry's arms wrapped around her and his lips on hers. Her mind was working in overdrive as she realized that she had been right, his kisses were more than satisfactory, she wondered why she had never put more thought into his kissing ability, she wondered why she had been a total witch to him and acted terribly for their first date, why she hadn't paid more attention to him as a boy and not just as a best friend, why she hadn't been working just as hard as he was in trying to get his attention. Hermione realized, with no arrogance at all, that she had been with Harry since the beginning, she'd been brave where other girls had been cowards, she'd been loyal where others-Ron-had wavered, she'd been there for him when everyone else turned their backs and scorned him. What were Ginny and Cho compared to her? Little girls with crushes. And her? Well, she had been the most mature woman in his life, even Professor McGonagall and Missus Weasley hadn't been there, right there with him through thick and thin, like she had. She realized in that moment as she was smashed against the wall and Harry's lips that Harry was _hers_ and no one else's.

A fraction of a second later she felt herself being pulled forward, Harry had obviously began to bounce backwards from the impact and, since his arms were still securely wrapped around her body, she was being pulled backwards into the snow along with him. She didn't have the strength to try to keep the two of them standing, her knees had given out and she was seeing stars in her vision, she felt lightheaded and her heart beating madly in her chest.

None of these things were caused by the injury or impact.

They both fell into the snow with a soft thud, Hermione could hear people yell out and start running in their direction, several of them calling out for anyone who knew healing spells or to alert the Hogwarts staff. Hermione felt warm, she realized she was lying on top of Harry after they'd shared their first kiss and idly wondered if she should be embarrassed or if he would be embarrassed when they woke up.

Hermione groaned, she realized that she was about to pass out, Harry had already been knocked out, and that she'd soon wake up in the Hospital Wing with Harry by her side.

She hoped he'd be fine, she feared that this Bludger hit would make him forget all about her just like the first one had made him notice her, just like this hit had made her notice him.

Her mind was slipping and she couldn't hold on. Bleeding and dazed and on the snow in a heap with Harry she smiled. Their first date was a disaster, their first kiss was an uncoordinated mess that left them bloody and bruised. And it was wonderful.

If that was how he kissed by accident, she couldn't wait to see how he kissed on purpose.


End file.
